The Hindu : National : Manual scavenging still rampant in North East Delhi, says report

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Manual scavenging still rampant in North East Delhi, says report

Parul Sharma

Finance and Development Corporation had sponsored the study to identify scavengers in the city

As per the report scavenging is a women dominated profession
‘The scavengers have high aspirations for their children and want them to study’

NEW DELHI: While 15 years have lapsed since the demeaning and humiliating practice of manual scavenging was banned through the enactment of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, manual scavenging is still rampant in North East Delhi, where a majority of Delhi’s 1,282 scavengers work, a study by a Delhi University lecturer has revealed.

According to the study conducted by Pamela Singla, a lecturer at the Department of Social Work at Delhi University, the main pockets of residence and workplace of people engaged in removal of night soil are in areas like Karawal Nagar, Old Seelampur, Shahdara, Gandhi Nagar, Nand Nagri and Babarpur. “Scavenging is done mainly by two ways, either by cleaning of drains or emptying the containers containing night soil,” said Dr. Singla, sharing the findings of the study that she conducted for the Delhi SC/ST/OBC/Minorities/Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation.

The Corporation had sponsored the study to identify scavengers in the city. Acting on the report, the Delhi State Cabinet had recently decided to initiate steps for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers.

As per the report, “Scavengers and Scavenging in Delhi”, submitted to the Corporation in July last year, scavenging is a women dominated profession.

“About 80 per cent of scavengers are women and majority of them are married. Over 71 per cent are below 40 years of age. Out of 1,282 scavengers, 1,085 reside and work in Delhi, while the remaining work in the Capital but live in Loni. Besides scavenging, they also collect garbage and clean septic tanks. They are engaged in scavenging purely owing to financial reasons as they have to fend for their families,” shared Dr. Singla.

A majority of them are not satisfied with their jobs since the work is “extremely filthy”. About 12 per cent of scavengers said they could not quit the profession as there was no alternative means of employment available to them because of their illiteracy.

“They are not sure what they want to do. During informal interactions with some of the women, I could gauge that they were not ready to undergo training for any other job. They showed willingness to do government jobs. Some women even said they would not mind scavenging if it would be counted under government jobs and would give them a regular, fixed income at the end of the month coupled with weekly holidays,” she said.

According to the report, the scavengers had high aspirations for their children and wanted them to study and get into some “dignified profession”.

Interestingly, Dr. Singla had conducted the same study way back in 1992 and was glad to note that the number of human scavengers in the Capital had come down from 8,000 back then to 1,282 this time round.

“Things have improved in some ways. In 1992, there were many scavengers who carried it (night soil) head load. In 2007, such persons were almost negligible with most carrying it in a cart,” she noted.

Dr. Singla said the profession can be completely abolished only when the authorities convert “dry” latrines to “wet” latrines with simultaneous programmes for their rehabilitation.

“As long as there is a demand for their services, scavengers will continue to exist,” she concluded, adding that the Corporation is sharing the report with some ministries.

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